A film about the horror of the Franco regime – but not really. It does show the horrors in Spanish modern history, but the film goes further than just showing terror and tells us to really deal with the heritage and survive with the scar instead of perish with silence. I understand the theme is still uncommon in Spanish art. David, a neurosurgeon (!), find out he has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. When he seeks out his parents for matching bone marrow, he learns that they are not his biological parents and that his foster father took the son from a prison. At the same time, we follow a story from the time before the civil war, of children who are incabable of feeling pain and are therefore held in prison. One of them eventually becomes a specialist in pain during the fascist regime. The film is intricately constructed with interediting between the two parallel and later intertwined stories. There are several layers of psychology and meaning that certainly is beyond my understanding because I never lived in a fascist dictatorship, but the film is deeply touching with humanism and honest feelings despite the horrors. The photo is incredibly beautiful, especially the historical parts. I just wish I was able to experience it truely – in Spain.